


Not Really Strangers

by pajamawarrior



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Badass Okumura Haru, Established Relationship, F/M, I love Okumura Haru with all my heart, Joker is Brainwashed by Forneus shadow, Okumura Haru is a BAMF, One Shot, Shido Masayoshi's Palace, and now we're dating her and it's not even DECEMBER yet, haru is SMOOTH as FUCK god DAMN, hopeless romantic amamiya ren, hopeless romantic persona5 protagonist, i got to advance haru's SL really really quickly, i love my friends who are willing to encourage my bullshit, i wouldn't have had the courage to post this otherwise if they hadn't told me it was good orz, life is good, prove me wrong you CANT, ren is a SAP AND HE LOVES HIS GIRLFRIEND GOD DAMN IT, this was inspired by my current ng+ savefile, two betas actually, yes beta we live like cowards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:49:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29537091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pajamawarrior/pseuds/pajamawarrior
Summary: He had a strong urge to grab her face right there, and kiss her with everything he had. Because Ren was a huge sap, and he loved his girlfriend very very much.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Okumura Haru, Kitagawa Yusuke/Sakura Futaba, Kurusu Akira/Okumura Haru, Niijima Makoto/Sakamoto Ryuji, Okumura Haru/Persona 5 Protagonist, last two can be either platonic or romantic, see what you will - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	Not Really Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to anyone who has ever contributed to the Shuharu tags on this website. If you have, and it's written in English, then I've probably read it. Thank you; y'all are the real heroes. It's time I repay you, and let *you* enjoy the content, for once!

Joker was confused. 

He doesn’t remember exactly who he was fighting, and why.

The nice-looking manta-ray over there seemed alright. He didn’t look like he was hurting anybody, so it couldn’t be him…

“Astarte, DESCEND!” 

Immediately, something felt different. 

Heavy, intense. 

The air around him seemed to be vibrating, pulsating, quite powerfully. So powerfully, he could almost _see_ it. Like when you could almost _see_ the air _sizzling_ with heat on a very hot day.

Joker squinted, trying to focus on the distortion.

He must have blinked, because the next thing he knew, he saw the nice manta-ray thing bowl over, and hit the floor. 

As if — whatever the young gentleman thief had just seen stir the air — had shot forward _deliberately_ towards the poor thing in its sights, with the intent to _kill_ . As if the strange phenomenon itself knew that the manta-ray would be especially vulnerable to it. And it must have been. Because it looked like it _hurt_. 

_It was in pain._

... _That wasn’t a trick of the light_ . Joker deduced quickly. That was an _attack._

Joker blinked again, realization finally hitting him. 

_That’s who he was fighting._

_Someone was attacking this poor manta-ray, and the poor thing was completely helpless._

_And Joker had been trying to protect him, of course!_

But…

“Where… is the enemy?” Joker drawled out, dazedly. He looked around slowly, entranced.

“Joker! Get it together man!!!! They’re right there!” A brash, loud voice called out to Joker from somewhere beside him. 

“ _Skull,_ FOCUS!!!! Either hurry up and give Joker some Recover Oil, or take it down so the spell wears off. _Noir,_ hit it again!” Commanded another voice to the other side of him, a woman’s voice this time.

_Where were these voices coming from? Was someone else with him? Were they here to help him protect the manta-ray?_

Joker turned his head to face the direction where the second voice had come from.

A brunette, wearing some sort of biker gang outfit(?), was to his left. Her focus was elsewhere, her own head tilted to the left, talking to what was probably another person behind her.

“On it, Queen! Astarte, _once more_!” Another voice; it was much softer than the first two, but it sounded no less resolute than the voices before it.

Joker craned his head slightly to look past the brunette, and he saw another girl standing with them, wearing an _equally_ bizarre outfit.

She was really pretty, though- Joker thought- as he admired her fluffy, auburn curls. 

Her curls bounced as she rotated her torso, and drew one hand to cover an eye- they were a soft, pretty brown color, and for some reason, Joker knew that there was usually a charming kindness behind them.

He didn’t see that in them _now_ , though. Her eyes glinted with an almost _composed fury_ as she threw out her other hand, signaling to a remarkable presence that abruptly appeared behind her, in an unwavering command- to attack.

It was… uh. _Kind of hot, honestly?_

But then Joker followed the arch of the girl’s arm to see where she was pointing to. 

The same distortion in the air from before appeared, and then the manta-ray went down once more.

Joker’s vision went red.

_Her_ . _She’s the one_.

Joker’s eyes snapped back towards the black-masked girl. 

He didn’t care _how pretty_ this girl was- no one hurts a defenseless innocent like that-

Not if _he had anything to say about it._

Joker would protect the weak, when they couldn’t protect themselves, _no matter what._

“ _You…_ ” He hissed.

He lunged.

A gasp.

“Please- _wait!”_

A cut of his knife, the sound of it _slicing_ through something with ease, pierced the air.

The sound of someone’s knees buckling- hitting the floor. 

“ _Joker- NO!”_

A cry of pain.

_“What are you doing, man?! Stop!!!”_

Joker staggered back, confused.

“But, the enemy…?” He argued.

“No, you did good, kid.” A new voice assured him.

_Huh? Who-_

“What a shame... you _almost_ killed her. But don’t worry, kid, you _still did good_ . She _definitely_ won’t be getting back up anytime, soon. Thanks for that. Now, there’s no one who’ll stop me from doing _this_.” The voice immediately grew louder in Joker’s ears, as a dark shadow descended upon him.

Joker turned to look behind him- and his eyes grew wide.

The manta-ray loomed over him, ready to pounce.

_No, why…?_

“Cause you’re next, kid.” As if it had read Joker’s mind. “Thanks for being so fucking _easy_ to trick, and doing all my work _for_ me.” Its grotesque mouth contorted into a sickening grin. 

“ _Goodbye_.”

Joker squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the blow to come. It was the end.

“ _NO! I WON’T LET YOU!”_ A cry.

Joker’s eyes snapped open when he _heard_ the slicing of skin, but didn’t feel anything.

His vision was immediately filled with the sight of fluffy auburn hair. _It really was as soft as it looked._ The curls were so close to his face, Joker felt a stray strand tickle his nose. 

But then, as soon as the fluffy hair had entered his vision, it was gone again, suddenly disappearing downward. 

The thief’s eyes trailed to the ground after the fluffy hair had sunk down from view. And the pretty girl from before that went with it, who was somehow directly in front of him, now, stumbled forward- and doubled over- fluffy curls bouncing with the motion.

He could hear what was no doubt the sound of her belaboured breathing; she was panting quite heavily.

The manta-ray jumped back, surprised by the sudden act.

“WHAT THE-?!”

“ _Queen-_ “ Pant. “Use a Despair Vial- _now_!”

“ _On it!_ ”

How was she still able to talk?! 

_Just how strong is this girl...?_

Before Joker could finish the thought, he turned his head to see the brunette from before seemingly pulling a small glass vial out of _nowhere_ , winding her arm back, and throwing it like a pitcher on the mound. Damn.

It hit the manta-ray square on the nose and shattered- shards flying everywhere.

The monster reeled back. 

“Agh!”

There was a beat, and then suddenly the monster seemed to be curling in on itself, terrified.

“This is the end… It’s over! I’m gonna die here!!!!” It wailed, in anguish.

“Not having so much fun now, _huh, asshole?!_ ” 

“ _Skull- language!!!_ ”

But before Joker could watch the brunette chide her teammate further, all three of them turned with a start at the sound of a battle-cry echoing through the air.

“Now _you_ know how it feels!!!! You’ll _never_ get the chance to hurt him _again-_ I’ll KILL YOU.” The girl in front of him, yelled, eyes blazing.

She threw a hand out, one final time.

“ASTARTE!” Her voice sounded downright _deadly._

“No- _please!!!!_ ” The monster begged.

Joker felt the air grow heavy, as he saw the air around the monster distort and pulse madly, as if closing in around it.

It screeched out in pain, and bowled over, quivering, in a pathetic heap, on the ground.

The girl didn’t even give the monster a second for recourse. She dashed forward and was upon it in an instant.

“GO TO HELL.” She barked out. 

There was no trace of remorse in her voice.

She stepped back on her right foot. She pivoted her torso, winding up for the swing. Her hands seemed to have a death grip on the handle as the axe she wielded swung up and back. 

After the sheer force of her swing, with her arms raised above her head, blade in the air, she let the momentum carry it back down- 

_And it cut through the monster in one pass._

The sound of skin slicing open hung in the air, and the monster turned completely black- before the shadow crumbled and disintegrated quickly, leaving no trace of it behind.

The spell was broken- and the fog in Joker’s mind finally cleared. 

His stormcloud-eyes immediately brightened with recognition as he came to, and he saw _Noir-_ standing over the spot where the shadow once lay- her shoulders already heaving with exhaustion from the motion.

“Holy _shit!!!!_ ” The other guy- _Skull_ , gawked. “That was awesome!!!!”

“Way to go, Noir!!!!” Oracle’s voice echoed on the comm. 

“MVP!!!! MVP!!!!” She chanted.

“She’s grown so much...” Joker heard Mona sniff tearfully, no doubt welling with pride for his teammate.

“Aww… are those tears I see, Mona?” He heard Panther’s voice tease from behind him.

“Wha- _No!!!!_ ” The cat-not-a-cat squawked back, indignantly.

Joker’s lips quirked at one end in a small smile at the banter, but his eyes never left Noir. 

If his teammates had taken a moment to look at his face amongst their chatter- they would have seen his eyes shining with something as he looked on admiringly at her- a look that none of them would have been able to quite place. 

Noir- still out of breath, it seemed, from how she was still heaving- turned back towards her friends, a smile and a blush beginning to bloom on her face from hearing her comrades’ praise- 

Before she crumpled to the floor with a thud.

Joker’s heart seized with fear.

“ _Noir!_ ” He couldn’t stop himself from crying out.

Before the other Phantom Thieves could blink, he dashed forward, already clearing the distance between himself and his companion.

Joker skidded to a stop before her, dropping to his knees.

He reacted quickly, laying her head in his lap, and brought a hand to his face, already switching masks.

_Stay with me, Haru._

He brought Narcissus to the front. Thank heavens that he recruited a persona with a healing skill, earlier, he thought to himself, relieved.

He quietly whispered the spell; the words slipped past his lips and into the open air, sounding to all the world almost like a prayer.

Joker felt the Mediarama he had cast already flow from his fingertips, as he cradled Noir’s head protectively in his lap.

Those kind, brown eyes that he _loved so much_ quickly fluttered open, as the spell seemed to wash over her- as if embracing her, lovingly.

_His_ embrace.

Noir blinked once with recognition, and then a dreamy look passed over her face, as she peered up at him underneath long lashes.

“I’m still sleeping, aren’t I?” She said.

“Hm?” He hummed- not even bothering to keep his face looking composed anymore. His nose wrinkled in reply, clearly telegraphing his confusion from her comment.

“Because I get to look up at you like this.” She replied easily, as if that explained everything.

Joker blinked, still confused, but felt his face heat up beneath his mask all the same. So, she continued.

“A _dashing_ , roguishly _handsome_ man, like you… _looking at me,_ like that? I must be dreaming.”

Joker was so glad he was wearing a mask, because he was blushing like a _damn school girl._

_This girl…_ Joker thought helplessly. 

Was going to be the death of him.

He was Joker. The leader of the _Phantom Thieves_. 

...And Noir had him wrapped around her little finger.

...He was so screwed.

Joker cleared his throat, and tried to reply- desperate to compose himself as the rest of his team approached them.

“ _Damn,_ Noir! Seriously, that fucking _ruled!_ ” Skull cheered. 

“Indeed.” Fox concurred. 

“Your… what is it called?” He called out, looking back to Oracle, who was in the middle of catching up to the rest of the group; she always kept a safe distance when navigating the team during battles, of course.

“A finisher!” Oracle replied over the comm as she began to trot over, acting uncharacteristically helpful towards her teammate. She always liked to ignore Fox and watch him flounder at times like these. It always made whatever he said next waaaaaaay funnier. But she was curious about the whole thing, too, (Noir was so impressive!!!!) so she slipped him the hint. Just this one time though.

“Yes, thank you.” Fox replied, gratefully, turning back to the rest of the group. “Your finisher-“

God, Oracle couldn’t help but snort. He even made the air quotes ( _unironically_ btw) with his hands as he said it. _What a weirdo._ She thought, not even remotely aware of the fondness that was hiding in plain sight behind it.

“- was very impressive. Very graceful.” Fox nodded, clearly quite pleased, as he continued speaking. 

“The way your form moved so elegantly as you decapitated that _repulsive_ creature- truly magnificent. I believe you may have the same potential for modeling as Panther. ...Hm…”

A pause, the cognitive millstone in his brain slowly beginning to turn.

“...I feel inspired to paint…” He finished, almost muttering that last part.

“Anyway… Save for the _cursing…_ ” Queen sent a pointed look at the blonde standing next to her. 

Skull, who looked not dissimilar from a kicked puppy, visibly deflated.

“And. What Fox said at the end...” Queen wasted no time in segueing. 

She had long since been told the tale of when Ann had ‘modeled’ for Yusuke, during their investigation of Madarame’s atelier, back in the spring. She didn’t want to think too much into what Fox had said, especially regarding his thoughts on what modeling for him actually entails.

“...I have to agree. You took such a big hit from the shadow at the end too; _how_ _did_ you have the energy to finish it off like that?” Queen asked, voice belying her curiosity.

“Yeah, Noir, tell us!!!!” Oracle’s voice piped up again on the comm. 

...She was still catching up?

“Whatever it was, I’m surprised you still protected Joker after he attacked you like that! I thought you would be too pissed with him, still.” Skull chimed in, again. 

He looked at Joker for a reply, who only offered his compatriot the back of his frizzy-haired head to look at. Skull’s face turned smug, a shit-eating grin slowly spreading below his mask. 

_This should get his attention._

“She’s a _keeper_ , eh, _Leader_?” The blonde rebel didn’t hesitate to jab. 

...Oh, Ryuji. _If only he knew._

Joker didn’t respond.

Noir held Joker’s gaze, the latter rapt in attention, as she replied, softly, 

“ _Love makes you do crazy things sometimes, Mako-chan.”_

Her voice was so quiet, the rest of the team _couldn’t have heard it_ , there was no way.

But that didn’t stop the blush from darkening fiercely from beneath Joker’s mask, no doubt spreading to the back of his neck and to the tips of his ears, telling from how hot they felt.

_Wow… I’m so lucky._ Ren smiled warmly. 

A dreamy look _almost_ overcame his face. He had a strong urge to grab her face right there, and kiss her with everything he had. Because Ren was a huge sap, and he loved his girlfriend very _very much._

But he wasn’t Ren, right now. Right now, at the front, was Joker. 

The _other Ren._

And Joker was a Phantom Thief. A professional. 

A professional who, while he did love his girlfriend very much, wasn’t about to drop everything and just throw himself at her like that in front of his _team_ . In the middle of a _palace infiltration, for crying out loud._

No. Joker was a _professional_ . He _was better than that._

…

No, Joker was still having a hard time. Who the fuck was he kidding? 

But, ultimately, Joker possessed more self-restraint than Ren alone ever could. So, while Ren was begging to grab his girlfriend and just _kiss her already_ , Joker, who was clearly the more sensible part of himself, was just barely able to resist. 

But, to appease his other self, and quite honestly, satisfy his own near-overwhelming urge to be affectionate, Joker settled for doing what he did next.

Joker, without taking his eyes off of the beautiful thief before him- his _girlfriend_ \- ( _Wow, how did he get so lucky?)_ gingerly took Noir’s hand in his, and pressed a reverent kiss to her knuckles.

“Thank you, _Noir_.” 

**Author's Note:**

> ...This deadass actually happened when I was playing my current save file earlier and I just HAD to write something for it I canNOT make this shit up I SQUEALED!!!!!!
> 
> And... can you tell I wrote this start to finish for 2 hours straight? Because I can LMAO  
> -  
> Also, to consider:
> 
> “Damn, it took all that, and it’s only the second letter of introduction.” Ryuji couldn’t help but whine.
> 
> “Ryuji…” Groans everyone else.  
> -  
> But ALSO:
> 
> “Wait, you two are DATING?!” The blonde blurts out abruptly, with all of the social grace of the Kool-Aid Man and a wall.
> 
> “Ryuji…” Groans everyone else.
> 
> “...Right. I’m just gonna shut up now.”
> 
> Just kidding everyone, we love him!!!!! Ryuji is criminally underrated btw, even by the other characters in the game. It's a DAMN shame, because I love him.  
> -  
> Comments and constructive feedback is VERY appreciated. I've written fanfiction countless times before, but this is the first time I've ever felt good enough about a work to actually post it... Thank my two beautiful betas, and very good friends, for that! Love you, ladies!!! <3
> 
> Thank you for reading! I'll see ya next time! ✧*｡٩(ˊ⺫ ˋ ृ )


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